


Tabula Rasa

by painted_lady12



Series: Across Time and Space [1]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Katsuki Yuuri, Brain Damage, Character's Name Spelled as Viktor, Dreams, Feelings, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Male Homosexuality, Memory Loss, Porn With Plot, Porn with Feelings, Smut, Top Victor Nikiforov, Trauma, Viktor is a Doctor, Yuuri is a Patient
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2018-12-30 21:57:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 9,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12118050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/painted_lady12/pseuds/painted_lady12
Summary: This was usually the part of the dream that his hot fiance-doctor Viktor would crawl on top of him and start fucking him into the mattress, but apparently his dream fiance was feeling conservative on this particular day.Yuuri drifted back off to sleep…Wait, drifted back off?What the hell…It felt like the whole world was tilting on its axis, like gravity was switched and he was falling and couldn’t stop, but this was the part of the dream he normally woke up…***AU where Yuuri wakes up remembering that he is a famous figure skater and Viktor, his doctor, is his loving fiance.  Viktor assures Yuuri that they had never met before, but Yuuri is so sure that his memories were real...This story will be told in three parts.  Enjoy!





	1. Once Upon A Dream

**Author's Note:**

> Yo. I wrote this last night in a flurry of anxiety. 
> 
> Gonna be honest, I cried eighteen times while writing this. I'm sorry, friends.
> 
> As usual, I don't own Yuri! on Ice, because apparently if I did it would be a porno sobfest.
> 
> UPDATE: I'm writing a short follow-up series as well! Stay tuned!

It was a really, really good dream.

 

Aren’t all dreams kind of good, though?  They’re an escape.  Life is easier when you’re floating in suspended animation of a dream.  Pain can’t hurt you.  Dying doesn’t mean anything.  Falling in love is easy, and you can take all the risks in the world and when you wake up it’ll all reset back to normal.

 

Yuuri had always loved dreaming.  No matter what, he tried to get his eight hours.  With his anxiety, it had become hard in his adult years, but it was still something he strived for.

 

This dream was pleasant enough.  He “woke up” to a very attractive doctor looking over him, a doctor that looked eerily like his fiance, Viktor Nikiforov.  Yuuri couldn’t speak, as you often couldn’t do in dreams, but he smiled dopily at the doctor, whose silver hair was back in a long pony-tail.

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

Also, as it is often common in dreams, Yuuri couldn’t move very well, like he was drifting in molasses.  

 

“Still having trouble talking and moving, huh?  I’m sorry to see that.  We have you scheduled for a PET scan later to assess general functioning.  Think you could swing that?”

 

Yuuri blinked, nodding with a lot of effort.

 

This was usually the part of the dream that his hot fiance-doctor would crawl on top of him and start fucking him into the mattress, but apparently his dream fiance was feeling conservative on this particular day.

 

Yuuri drifted back off to sleep…

 

Wait, drifted back off?

 

What the hell…

 

It felt like the whole world was tilting on its axis, like gravity was switched and he was falling and couldn’t stop, but this was the part of the dream he normally woke up…

 

No, he wasn’t waking up, but he _was_ thrashing around on the hospital bed, screaming bloody murder, because everything was wrong and apparently when he woke up, he woke up _wrong_.

 

“Calm down, sir.  Tell us your name.”

 

“Katsuki Yuuri!” Yuuri yelled, trembling all over, “I’m a Japanese figure skater!  Just go get my fiance, Viktor, he’ll explain everything…”

 

The doctor poked his head back in, and Yuuri stopped thrashing.  “Viktor, please tell them…”

 

“How did you know my first name?” Viktor blinked, moving towards the bed like he was in a dream, clipboard clattering to the floor, “I’ve never told you my first name.”

 

One of the nurses picked up the clipboard and…

 

“Mila!  Oh, thank God, Mila, you can tell…”

 

Mila was gazing at Yuuri now too, stuttering out, “Sir, neither of us have met you before today.  You’ve experienced a serious trauma.  Your plane crashed after liftoff.  Most people didn’t survive the explosion, but because you were in the back you managed to get away with only a head injury.  You risk exacerbating the issue if you don’t calm down.”

 

Yuuri fell back on the bed, gazing up at the ceiling.

 

_This is all a dream.  I’ll wake up and it will all be a dream._

 

Yuuri pinched himself, hard: no dice.  He struggled to try to get up, but the nurses were all over him in a minute, forcing him to lie back down.

 

Viktor was still looking like lightning had struck him, mouth agape.

 

“Come on, Dr. Nikiforov, your flair for the dramatic is disturbing the patients again…” Mila tugged Viktor out of the room, and Yuuri felt tears start to well up in his eyes.

 

“Viktor, don’t leave me, please…”

 

One of the nurses shushed Yuuri as he cried, and explained that they were going to give him a mild sedative to calm him down.  He nodded mechanically, unable to process any of what was going on around him.

 

When he drifted off, he was back home.

 

He was sitting on the couch of their apartment in St. Petersburg.  Viktor came over to the couch with freshly popped popcorn, settling next to Yuuri and propping his legs up onto Yuuri’s lap, asking, “What are we watching tonight?”

 

“Yurio wants us to catch up on Game of Thrones before the final season,” Yuuri said lazily, absentmindedly stroking his fiance’s legs.

 

There was a voice echoing from their door, then a sharp knock.

 

“Don’t get it, Yuuri,” Viktor warned, keeping his legs firmly on Yuuri’s lap.

 

Laughing, Yuuri leaned over to kiss Viktor softly, but the Russian was serious.  His blue eyes were electric in their intensity.

 

“Don’t do it, Yuuri.  I’m telling you that it’s a bad idea.”

 

Lightly shoving Viktor off of him, Yuuri moved towards the door.

 

Viktor stood behind him, looking grim.

 

A voice was echoing from the hallway, but he couldn’t make out what it was saying.

 

Makkachin had come over to Yuuri, jumping on him to try to get his attention, but whatever was at the door was _very important_.

 

Yuuri pushed back the dog and opened the door, except there was no one on the other side.

 

In fact, there was nothing on the other side.  It was just whiteness, emptiness, and when Yuuri leaned in to try to see if anyone was there he heard Viktor’s voice echo from behind him, “I told you not to open it, love.”

 

When Yuuri woke again, or… fell asleep again?.. Viktor was sitting in the chair next to him, eyeing him thoughtfully.

 

“Viktor,” Yuuri whispered, reaching his hand out for Viktor to hold, but the doctor just eyed it sadly.

 

“You’ve had a very serious accident.  It’s understandable that your memory would try to incorporate the first people you meet into a life story.  The nurses tell me that I’m your fiance?”

 

Viktor’s face was bemused, politely so, and Yuuri felt that falseness like a sucker punch in the gut.

 

Tears formed in his eyes, and the doctor sat up, whispering, “Oh, no, please don’t cry.  Your name is Yuuri, right?  I’m assigned to overnight tonight and everyone else in the emergency room is either a drunk college kid or a person who thinks their mole is skin cancer.  Two in the morning really gets boring.”

 

Yuuri blinked the sleep out of his eyes, disbelievingly.  “I thought you said I was in a serious accident?”

 

The doctor fiddled with his clipboard.  “Yes, well, the accident was… mostly fatal.  You were the only surviving passenger.  Everyone else is downstairs, in the morgue.”

 

Time stopped, for a moment.

 

It had to be a dream.  It just had to be.

 

“You said your name was Katsuki Yuuri, though, right?  If you could give us your information, we can contact your family.  Do you remember anything else about your life?”

 

 _We’re getting married in August,_ Yuuri thought, feeling his throat start to close up.   _You are my life, Viktor, but you don’t remember…_

 

“My parents run a hot spring inn back in my hometown in Japan.  Maybe you can get a hold of them.”

 

Viktor nodded, jotting that down.  “Could you give me the name of the town, and their names?”

 

“Hasetsu, Japan.  Toshiya and Hiroko.  Or my sister, Mari.”

 

Viktor nodded, finishing his writing with a flourish.  Yuuri was relieved to see that Viktor’s handwriting was just as elegant and indecipherable as it was in his dream… no his real life… or, wherever he was engaged to the man.

 

“With the six hour time difference, I’m assuming that it would be okay to call them now?”

 

Something was bothering Yuuri.  It stuck to the back of his mind but wouldn’t budge, like gum on a shoe.  

 

“Wait… where am I?”

 

Breathing deeply, Viktor said calmly, “Moscow, Russia.  As to why you were here, I have no idea.  However, your Russian is impeccable.”

 

_That’s because I lived here for two years.  Not in Moscow, but in St. Petersburg, with you.  You taught me the language by walking me around and pointing at everything you saw like a tour guide on steroids.  Other people would look at us and laugh and you wouldn’t care._

 

“Viktor, you really don’t remember me at all?”  Yuuri was starting to get emotional again.

 

The man smiled tightly.  “Honestly, I kind of wish I was the man from your dreams.  I don’t exactly get a lot of time to date during my residency.  I haven’t really slowed down at all since med school.”

 

It tore at him, this knowledge, and Yuuri nodded glumly, burying his face into the pillow.  “Please try to contact my family.”

 

Nodding, he took that as an excuse to leave the room while Yuuri sobbed into his pillow.

 

When he fell asleep that night, he was back in his real life.

 

Or, his dream.

 

No, real life, because Viktor was making love to him.  

 

Viktor’s hair was short again.

 

They were on vacation in Paris, the balcony door open and early dawn light filtering in over their writhing naked bodies.  Viktor was propped up on couch and Yuuri was straddling him, sitting back onto the other man’s cock.

 

His fiance was fucking into him devastatingly slowly, like they were doing some sort of rehearsed dance, and they needed it to last all night.  Yuuri wasn’t sure if this was their third or hundredth time fucking that night, but making it until dawn was one of their greatest assets as a couple.

 

It infringed upon Yuuri’s dreams, these all-night love making sessions, but in these moments, Yuuri welcomed that the mind-blowing sex _was_ the dream.

 

As Yuuri started picking up the pace and impaling himself on Viktor’s cock, Viktor started licking and nibbling at Yuuri’s back.

 

“I’d keep you like this forever, you know,” Viktor whispered seductively, bucking up into Yuuri’s tight heat, “I’d fuck you forever if it would keep you here with me.”

 

Yuuri gasped as Viktor pulled out and picked Yuuri up, laying his upper body out onto the couch and holding up his legs wheelbarrow style, pressing back in.

 

“Oh, Viktor,” Yuuri gasped, loving how fucked-out he felt, how woozy.  He was dehydrated, and on another plane of existence.

 

“Don’t ever let me stop,” Viktor whispered, starting to pound harder into Yuuri, and soon he was coming inside the younger man with a gasp.

 

Viktor fell onto the couch next to Yuuri, starting to lean down to give Yuuri oral, when Yuuri laughed, pushing the older man back.  “That’s fine, but I need water first, love.”

 

Wide blue eyes stared back at him, his sweaty, silver bangs falling in his face so innocently.

 

“Don’t leave, Yuuri.  I can’t keep you here if you leave…”

 

Chuckling, Yuuri pressed a kiss to the top of Viktor’s head.  “It’ll only be a minute…”

 

As he walked towards the water, and felt the come start to trickle down his leg, he had the odd sensation of water being pressed against his lips, even though he was still walking towards it.

 

Huh, that’s funny, how…

 

When he came to, Mila the nurse was wetting Yuuri’s lips, and he took a long sip of the tiny cup, feeling parched.

 

“You were looking a bit thirsty,” she said in way of explanation.  “My shift is off soon but I’ll be back at ten tonight.  We can talk all about how you knew me then, okay?”

 

Feeling more than a little disoriented, Yuuri nodded, and Viktor came in.

 

“Good, you’re awake!  My cover just came in, but I wanted to give you an update on your family.  They are worried sick about you.  I managed to get a translator.  Apparently you’ve been missing for three months.  You work as a therapist in Japan and one day you up and left.”

 

Therapist?

 

Missing?

 

“No, I’m a professional figure skater.  I won gold in the Worlds only a few weeks ago…”

 

Viktor shook his head.  “Your sister is getting on a plane as soon as she gets her things together.  She said she’d be here by tomorrow morning.  She’ll probably be able to explain things better.”

 

It was all so… they had just been making love, and now Viktor was a stranger to him, and it was all too much…

 

The tear sprang to his eyes, and Viktor jumped.  “Oh, I never know what to do in these situations.  Should I just give you a sedative?”

 

The familiarity made Yuuri freeze up, eyes widening, before dissolving into crazed laughter.

 

“You never do know, darling.  You never do.”

 

***

 

It took two days, but finally Yuuri was starting to realize that he wasn’t waking up from this one.

 

When Mari came in the next morning, and Viktor’s shift began, they both walked in, exchanging niceties.

 

“Your sister was saying that your dog can’t wait to see you!”

 

“What… dog?”

 

He studied his sister carefully.  She was virtually the same.  The same blonde tips in her hair, same cigarettes sticking out of her too-small front pants pocket, the same bandana wrapped around her face to keep her wild hair away from her eyes.

 

“Vicchan, Yuuri, your dog.  You’ve had him for ten years.  Have you forgotten?”

 

Yuuri’s hand shook.

 

Viktor leaned over to Mari, explaining quietly in English, “I did warn you that his memory is a little jumbled.  It’s common with head injuries paired with extreme trauma.  Give him time, and be patient.”

 

Mari pulled up the chair as Viktor walked away, and Yuuri leaned in closer to her.

 

“I… I was engaged to Viktor.”

 

“The doctor?  Goodness, Yuuri, your fantasies have good taste.”

 

Yuuri narrowed his eyes at her.  “I can prove it.”

 

Mari chuckled.  “Okay, prove it, smart guy.”

 

“Ask him about his dog.  He speaks English, ask him in English.”

 

Frowning, she stood up.  “Alright, I’ll play along, but afterward we need to have a serious talk about where you’ve been the last three months…”

 

“Neechan!”

 

His older sister left the room, and Yuuri waited with bated breath, unable to contain his nerves.  He needed to prove, somehow, that his dream was real, that he wasn’t just making stuff up.

 

When Mari came back, Viktor was in tow, his face pale.

 

“How did you know about my dog…?”

 

Yuuri sat up straighter, determined.  “Your dog’s name is Makkachin.  You adopted her from your neighbors who couldn’t afford to feed her anymore. You’ve had her since you were fourteen.”

 

“How…”

 

“I lived with you, Viktor.  I know that you don’t remember, and that it seems crazy, but we were engaged.  I lived with you and Makkachin in St. Petersburg.  We’re both famous figure skaters…”

 

“Slow down,” Viktor said uneasily, pressing the heel of his hand to his head.  “This is a lot to process.  I’ve never been a figure skater.  I dabbled when I was young but then I committed to wanting to become a doctor.”

 

“Your parents, then.  What about your mom and dad?  You parents abandoned you when you were ten.  You were raised by your aunt after that.  That’s why you adopted Makkachin, you wanted someone who was all yours.”

 

The bright blue eyes that were gazing back at him filled up with tears, and in a flash Viktor fled the room.

 

Mari hadn’t understood the conversation as it was in Russian, and she was looking at Yuuri like he was a stranger.  “What the hell, kid?  Since when were you fluent in Russian?  What did you say to make the poor guy cry?”

 

It was a small, hollow victory, but he’d proved something.

 

Not everything was different here.  

 

Maybe he’d just have to learn where the lines were drawn in the sand.


	2. Second Chance at a First Date

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri is determined to prove that his memories are real. Later, Dr. Nikiforov and him get to know each other

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello lovelies.
> 
> The feedback I've gotten for this fic has been great, all of you are the best<3 
> 
> As usual, I do not own Yuri! on Ice, because if I did my storytelling would emotionally scar everyone
> 
> Tabula Rasa: the scientific hypothesis that when a baby enters this world, they are born as a blank slate, and that they'll be shaped and molded by that world in which they are born into. Otherwise known as a fresh start, or a clean slate

One day later, when Mari had left to get a hotel room to stay in while she was in the city, Yuuri had managed to piece together the general outline of his life.

 

His name was still Katsuki Yuuri.  He was still from Hasetsu, Japan.  However, he never became famous for figure skating.  He was still friends with Yuuko from his younger skating days, but after he turned thirteen he decided that it was too much of a time commitment and focused on his studies. Vicchan hadn’t died here.  Yuuri still did ballet with Minako, and even helped her teach her classes until her business started slowing down.  He double majored in dance in college, which probably explained how he’d kept his athletic body.

 

He graduated at 23, and has been a therapist for the last two years in a small city only an hour away from Hasetsu.

 

He’s now 25, just like he remembered from his other life.

 

However, without figure skating, Yuuri never had a chance to meet Viktor.

 

They never fell in love.  They never got engaged, they never even met…

 

Until now.

 

Their other life still felt so real to him, but there was one thing that was for sure.  If this really was just some crazy long dream, the dream rules still applied.  He could take the crazy chances, and if it didn’t work out, he’d just wake up.

 

He needed to make it count.

 

***

 

The next day, as Yuuri was being discharged, Viktor wandered into the room.

 

When Yuuri finished signing the paperwork, he handed it to the nurse, looking at Viktor with contemplative eyes.

 

“I’m sorry, about yesterday,” Yuuri said honestly.  “It was rude of me to blurt it out like that.”

 

Brushing back his pony tail, Viktor grinned winningly.  “It’s fine.  I’m just having a hard time… how did you know all that?”

 

There had been a point in the planning of this that Yuuri had to decide whether he was going to play this as a dream or as reality.  

 

“I told you.  We were engaged in my dream.  I don’t know what that means, or why we met here, in this hospital, but I need to know why.  What are the odds?  That I would come to this hospital, and be the sole survivor of a plane crash that killed hundreds?  That you would be the one working the overnight shift on the evening I came in and woke up?”

 

Viktor’s lips were parted, eyes wide and sparkling with something… fear, interest, he wasn’t sure.

 

“All I know is that I want to know you, Viktor Nikiforov.  Or, Dr. Nikiforov.  If you’d have me, I’d like to get dinner with you.”

 

“Uh… yes,” Viktor said weakly, and Yuuri nodded.

 

“When do you get off tonight?”

 

“Um, seven.”

 

“Alright, I’ll be here at seven.  Your favorite type of food is still French, right?”

 

Gaping at him, he whispered meekly, “Yeah, it is.”

 

Grinning, Yuuri even felt a twist in his gut that made him lean forward and peck a kiss to Viktor’s cheek.

 

“Great.  I’ll find the best place in town.  I can’t wait for our date.”

 

When he saw Mari out in the hallway, he had to pick her jaw up from the floor.

 

“It’s alright, Mari, it’s all just a really weird dream,” he said easily, and she followed him down the hall, very sure that her brother had gone insane.

 

***

 

That night, when Yuuri saw Mari off to the airport, she scowled at him.

 

“We got you the new phone so you can call us.  Don’t go missing for three months again, alright?”

 

“I won’t.”

 

“I don’t like this,” Mari admitted, hand tightening on her suitcase.  “I feel like I’m letting you go…”

 

Yuuri leaned forward and pulled Mari into a tight hug.

 

“I need to figure this out.  I don’t know what’s going on, but I need to know if my Viktor is in there, somewhere.”

 

***

 

When Yuuri saw Viktor come out of the hospital front doors, he felt himself smiling from ear to ear.

 

This may be Dr. Nikiforov, but apparently one of the traits he’d retained over time and space was his tendency to always be dressed to impress.  Apparently he kept a suit in his locker, and his silver hair was down, falling in a curtain around his shoulders.  His blue eyes were looking at the flowers Yuuri was holding with interest.

 

“How did you know that lilies were my favorite?”

 

When Yuuri just shrugged, Viktor nodded.  “Oh, right.  We were engaged.”

 

“That’s the gist of it, yeah,” Yuuri said, handing off the bouquet.

 

Viktor fell into step next to Yuuri as they wandered down the streets of Moscow.  “That’s a lot to live up to on a first date, though.”

 

“Don’t think of it as a lot to live up to.  Think of it as I’m already 100% committed to making this work.  I’m leaving the ball completely in your court.  You can take me, or leave me,” Yuuri gulped a little, the second option making his stomach drop.

 

It was weird to Yuuri, to be the pursuer.  He was always the one to keep Viktor at arm’s length, only letting him closer at small increments at a time.  This was a completely new world, with a completely new set of rules, and Yuuri was still figuring out the game.

 

“Alright, so since you know everything about us but I know nothing about you or us, can I ask you questions?”

 

“Alright, shoot.”

 

“Where did we meet?”

 

The question was basic, but it threw Yuuri for a loop.  “Well, you were also a figure skater. I idolized you.  You were a living legend, actually, and I was pretty good, but not nearly as good as you were.  Then, after I failed epically in a competition, I tried skating one of your routines, and you saw the footage and came to find me in Hasetsu to be my coach.”

 

“I sound very spontaneous,” Viktor chuckled, tucking his hair behind one ear to give Yuuri mischievous side-eye.

 

“You are.”

 

There was a moment of silence before, “And then what?”

 

Yuuri smiled.  “Then you were my coach.  We fell in love somewhere along the way, and it wasn’t a clear cut thing.  Just one day I woke up and you were next to me and I thought ‘huh, this is how it is now’.”

 

“Ooh, was our sex life great?” Viktor gushed, eyes twinkling.

 

If it was possible, Yuuri turned every shade of red in existence.  He straightened out his tie nervously, having just bought the suit that day.  “Um, yeah.  We were pretty wild.”

 

“What was it like?  What was I like?”

 

Yuuri gulped, fidgeting with his sleeves.  “You, um, preferred to be top, and were kind of dominant in the bedroom.  You had… uh, how to put this… a daddy kink?”

 

Freezing in the middle of the sidewalk, Viktor was gazing at Yuuri, stunned.  “All of that is true.”

 

“Oh,” Yuuri said stupidly.  “Well… we’re here.”

 

They piled into the restaurant, and soon they were seated at an ornate table in a dimly lit open-air restaurant, with the smells of the kitchen wafting past their noses dreamily.

 

“So, let’s say that this world you lived in was real.  Why are you here, then?”  Viktor sipped his water, watching Yuuri thoughtfully.

 

“I… I don’t know, honestly,” Yuuri started picking at the bread, putting a little bit of butter on and nibbling.  “The last thing I remember is falling asleep next to you, in our apartment.  Which is why when I woke up in a hospital bed and you had no idea who I was, that was a little… disturbing.”

 

Biting his lip cutely, Viktor asked, “What… was it like?  Our relationship?”

 

A warmth bloomed in Yuuri’s chest, and he closed his eyes, remembering the last date they’d gone on together: a picnic in the park, Makkachin rolling around in the clover.  Yurio had shown up at the end and screamed at them to stop making out in public.

 

“It was… like the ocean.  Calming, forgiving, constant.  Also, at times, tumultuous, and more powerful than either of us could control.”

 

Viktor’s face fell into something akin to sadness.  “I’ve never had anything like that, before.  I’ve never stayed with anyone long enough.  With my career, it’s been impossible.”

 

They were silent a moment, before Viktor whispered, “I honestly didn’t think I was capable of loving someone that deeply.”

 

It wasn’t something that his Viktor had ever said, and it made Yuuri want to hold him close, tell him that he was doing a wonderful job, that they were working and everything was going to be alright.

 

Except, Yuuri didn’t know that.  He had no idea whether his crazy hail mary of a play would even work.

 

“You’ll find love, Viktor,” Yuuri began, even though it hurt him to say, “It may not be with me, but you’re definitely capable of it.  You’re kind, forgiving, and overflowing with love and affection.  You won’t be alone forever.”

 

The Russian was dumbfounded, and when the waiter came over to get their order, at first Viktor didn’t hear her.

 

“Oh, right, I’ll have the grilled salmon.”

 

Yuuri smiled tightly, unable to shake the feeling that he’d hit a nerve.  “I’ll get the quiche of the day, please.”

 

The waitress nodded, excusing herself, and Viktor studied Yuuri carefully.

 

“I have a theory,” Viktor said slowly, after a few minutes.

 

“Shoot.”

 

Viktor placed with his utensils in front of him.  “Imagine that there are multiple realities, where infinite possibilities exist.  Some realities are closer together than other realities.  Let’s say that the fork is your old world, and the spoon is this world,” he laid the fork and the spoon next to each other, “These two realities are really, really close, with a few minor changes.  Now, imagine that something happened to you in fork world.  And, simultaneously, something happened to you in spoon world.  Something where your consciousness was forced from your body.”

 

That had gone from zero to twilight zone real fast.

 

“Um… pardon?”

 

“Example: you had a stroke in the fork world.  Simultaneously you had a serious brain injury in spoon world.  Your consciousness was forcibly expelled from your body in both, in theory.  What if you consciousness returned to the wrong body afterwards?”

 

“That… would mean that the Yuuri that lives in this reality woke up next to Viktor, a stranger, in my reality.  No, that doesn’t feel right.  It’s something else…”

 

Yuuri couldn’t put his finger on it, but the theory felt wrong in some essential way.

 

“Alright, let’s hop off that train.  What’s your favorite color?”  Viktor beamed at him, the change in topics not perturbing him in the least.

 

“Blue.  Yours is gold.”

 

Pouting, Viktor pointed the spoon at him.  “No fair.  You cheated.”

 

They got through the rest of dinner without discussing the matter further.  They even made it down the street, towards Yuuri’s hotel, before Yuuri found himself slipping, having forgotten…

 

“... that restaurant, from our trip to Barcelona two years ago…”

 

Viktor stared blankly back.

 

Yuuri had forgotten, for just a moment, and he realized that those three years of his relationship were gone, in a puff of smoke, and the initial pain of coming into this world peeled back with fresh force.

 

He couldn’t take it anymore.

 

However, when tears started pouring down his face, Viktor twirled him around and kissed him.

 

He tasted the same, this Viktor.  His lips did the same things.  His fingers brushed the same places.  When Viktor pulled back, he ran his long fingers lovingly over Yuuri’s face, enraptured.  “Let me be him, even just for tonight.  Tell me how to be him.”

 

Shaking, Yuuri pressed another soft kiss to his lips.

 

“Just be you,” he said honestly, and Viktor smiled through tears of his own, snowflakes starting to fall around them.

 

When Yuuri looked up, he was shocked to see storm clouds above them.

 

“What day is it, anyway?”

 

“January seventeenth.”

 

January, huh?

 

“It’s a good thing winter is my favorite season.  Otherwise I’d hate to live it over again.”

 

***

 

When they got to the hotel room, Yuuri found himself surprised for the first time.  Once VIktor’s shirt was off, he saw that the man did not have the toned, athletic body he was used to expecting.  Viktor was still beautiful, but less angular, more full.  Yuuri sat back onto the bed and hugged Viktor to him, pressing kisses all over his abdomen.  

 

Eventually, as Viktor straddled Yuuri, he whispered, “Do you have protection?”

 

Yuuri balked.  They had been together for so long, Yuuri didn’t even think about condoms anymore.  When he went to the store today, the only thing he’d thought to get was a small tube of lube.

 

“Um…”

 

Viktor rocked back.  “Would other world me use condoms?”

 

Yuuri shook his head.  “No.  We were together for so long.  And… um… I kind of liked the feeling of you staying in me, after.”

 

If possible, Viktor’s pupils dilated more.  “Shit, that’s hot.”

 

Yuuri laughed, pulling Viktor down for another kiss.  “We can go get some.  I don’t want you to be uncomfortable.”

 

Suddenly, Viktor gasped.  “Oh, I forgot, I always keep one in my wallet…”

 

He dug around in his pants and pulled it out, and Yuuri groaned.

 

“How long has that been in there, Viktor?”

 

“Like, two days,” Viktor snapped, “The clinic gives away free condoms.  I replace this one once a week.”

 

“Oh,” Yuuri responded, a little dumbfounded as Viktor placed the condom on the bed spread and straddled Yuuri.

 

It felt like falling into step, or falling into _something_ , this familiarity.  Viktor gazing down at him like he was a delectable dish served to him; Yuuri surrendering control to this man whom he loved.

 

They gave up on speech, for a while.  However, it wasn’t by any means quiet.  The hard sucking against skin, the moans and groans, the gasping of names, the whispering of the fabric as the rest of their clothing was shucked off played in a cacophony, echoing around the room.

 

Despite that, if Yuuri could record the sounds of their lovemaking and play it over and over again, he would do it a thousand times over.

 

This Viktor enjoyed giving hickies just as much as his Viktor.  This Viktor ordered Yuuri to stay still with his eyes while he retrieved the lube, just like his Viktor would want complete control.

 

As Viktor parted Yuuri’s legs, leaving the younger man completely exposed to him, Yuuri leaned back on the bed, nervous again.

 

His Viktor loved every inch of him, but what if this one laughed at him?  What if this Viktor was cruel?

 

“I think, if I could, I would want to see you this debauched every day of my life, Yuuri Katsuki,” Viktor licked his lips as he rubbed the lube over his fingers.

 

 _Viktor, across time and space, will always want you,_ Yuuri thought, emotion shooting through him that was akin to longing, akin to feeling some semblance of _whole_ , again.

 

As Viktor pressed his first finger in, Yuuri gasped at how tight he was. Not having Viktor to fuck him almost daily in this reality made him a lot less receptive to penetration.  He grit his teeth through the sensation and tried to slow his breathing, to relax against the intrusion.

 

Then, when he relaxed enough, Viktor added another finger, gently working the tight channel wider.

 

Yuuri’s hands flew to Viktor hair as he worked, and the Russian grinned, twisting his fingers just right to hit Yuuri’s prostate, and Yuuri pulled Viktor’s long hair unthinkingly.

 

Viktor hissed in pleasure, eyes closing at the sensation.

 

 _I could get used to this_ , Yuuri thought happily, tugging again as a third finger was added.

 

Once Viktor deemed him ready, he pumped himself to full hardness and slipped the condom on, spreading more lube on his cock.  It was a delicious sight, Yuuri thought in a daze, until Viktor flipped Yuuri onto his stomach.

 

The anticipation was killing him.  Yuuri waited patiently as Viktor pressed kisses down his spine, until finally he felt the hardness press against the cleft of his ass, until finally he was pushing in…

 

It hurt, but it was a familiar, welcome hurt.  Yuuri almost sobbed at how good it felt, to be fucking his fiance again, when the man had thought he was a stranger only a few days ago.

 

... who still barely knew him.

 

As Viktor started moving, Yuuri tried to lose himself to the sensation, letting him have this moment of peace, this reprieve where Viktor was going to play the part of dutiful fiance, the part of passionate love maker.

 

Viktor started angling his hips upwards, and Yuuri almost screamed when the older man hit his prostate and started thrusting against it without a moment of hesitation, riding out this high with Yuuri.

 

Suddenly, Viktor caught Yuuri’s left leg by the ankle and swung it upwards, so that Yuuri was twisted at the waist and sideways from Viktor, like some oddly formed pretzel

 

Then, as Viktor reached him deeper, he moaned in happiness.

 

_Looks like Dr. Nikiforov is taking his anatomy lessons to heart._

 

At that angle, Viktor was able to use his other hand to stroke Yuuri’s own neglected cock easier, which was leaking precum and straining from the lack of stimulation.  

 

Yuuri came like that, twisted up and perfect, desperate and happy and full.

 

Viktor followed soon after, riding out the high, before gently lowering Yuuri back onto the mattress, collapsing between his legs and kissing Yuuri’s chest.

 

“That was the best sex I’ve had in years,” Viktor admitted, tracing lazy circles on Yuuri’s hand.

 

Yuuri grinned stupidly.  “That doesn’t even come close to some of the stuff we used to do.  I could show you, sometime.”

 

It hung heavy in the air, then, the implication.

 

“Yuuri, I…”

 

“That’s okay.  You don’t have to… you shouldn’t feel obligated to keep seeing me if you don’t want to.  I can’t make you into someone that you aren’t.”

 

Viktor gazed up at him then, blinking his perfect blue eyes and running his hands through his crazy sex hair.

 

“Do you want to know the truth, Yuuri?”

 

Yuuri waited in the silent hotel room, hoping beyond all hope that Viktor wouldn’t reject him.  His pulse was thumping rapidly in his ears

 

“I haven’t felt this alive in years.  Sure, I’m a good doctor.  I save people all the time.  It’s exhausting work, though.  I never have time to date, and I never have time to do anything that’s just for me.  I put on a brave face to everyone at work, but they never see the real me.  The desperate boy trying to please his aunt who could never love him like a son.  Yet, here you are, knowing all those deep, dark secrets of mine, and you love me anyway.”

 

Yuuri was shaking as he stroked Viktor’s cheek with his thumb, reverently.  The older man pressed into the attention, smiling.  “I’d be honored to spend more time with you, Yuuri.  I want to know you as well as you know me.  I want to fall in love with the beautiful man who I fell in love with in another lifetime.  It shouldn’t be that hard, right?”

 

It was so much more than he could have hoped for.  “Yeah, I’d like that.”

 

They fell asleep like that, Viktor laying on top of him, and Yuuri felt himself slip into a dream…

 

...no, reality…

 

No, definitely a dream.  Viktor and him were driving.

 

“No, this isn’t right…” Yuuri said softly, feeling dizzy, but his mouth wasn’t moving to form the words.  

 

This… Yuuri thought that the last thing he remembered from his reality, where he was a figure skater, was falling asleep next to Viktor, but now they’ve reached the next day, when they were driving to a friend’s birthday party...

 

Yuuri had forgotten this.

 

He continued to laugh and talk with Viktor like normal, his beautiful fiance regaling a tale from when his parents took him to see his first ballet.

 

“They were so confused when I told them I wanted to be as beautiful as the dancers.  That’s why I grew my hair out, you know.  I wanted to feel like a dancer…”

 

Yuuri saw flashes, then, like a picture that had shattered and you could see underneath the pieces: there were other images, hiding.

 

Horrible images.

 

This isn't a dream, this time.

 

This must be a nightmare.  

 

A nightmare...

 

...of a truck ramming into the back of their car.  Of the car spinning and tumbling off the side of the road.

 

...of Yuuri, gasping and choking on his own blood as he struggled to get to Viktor, who was bent at funny angles in the middle of the road.

 

When he reached Viktor, he clasped his ringed hand to Viktor’s own bloody one, trying to tell him that he loved him, choking out the words…

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really struggled with where to cut off chapter 2 and start chapter 3. It flows immediately into the next chapter so I recommend reading this part again before reading chapter 3. I will post the next chapter in the next few days. 
> 
> Also, I promise that there is a happy ending. Things look majorly bleak but the sun will come out I swear
> 
> If you like this fic, check out my other YOI fics, "The Picture of Yuri Plisetsky" and "The Silver Devils Play"


	3. Move Heaven and Earth

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri finds out how he ended up in this alternate world

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well here it is. I know I left the last chapter on a cliffhanger and I'm sorry about that. I didn't mean to break too many hearts.
> 
> This chapter starts immediately following last chapter, so reading the last few paragraphs there will help you understand what's going on.
> 
> This ending is as happy as it is sad and emotional. I don't like happily ever afters, and I never have. 
> 
> However, I am working on an equally as short follow-up series, the content of which I cannot disclose until after you read this chapter, but it explains a lot of the mechanics of how universe hopping works.
> 
> As always, I do not own Yuri! on Ice

...darkness descended, and suddenly he was in his apartment in St. Petersburg again, spooning with Viktor.

 

Viktor clenched at Yuuri tightly, his pale hands trembling.  “You saw, didn’t you?”

 

It was still like a jigsaw puzzle, hard to remember completely, but Yuuri would never forget the way that shattered glass tasted in his mouth, the way it felt when he was crawling over to Viktor, leaving a trail of blood behind him.

 

Yuuri clutched Viktor then, tears soaking his eyes.  

 

“I died.”

 

Viktor nodded, pressing a kiss to Yuuri’s shoulder.  “You left me, my love.  They told me you were dead, but the doctors don’t really talk to me much anymore.  It’s mostly just Yurio reading me my favorite stories, or Yakov telling me that it’s okay to go.”

 

“You’re in a coma.”

 

Viktor leaned back onto the bed, gazing at the ceiling, holding his hand with his ring finger up into the light.  “I live permanently in this in-between.  Having you coming in and out, trying to keep you here, is my selfish way of not wanting to be alone.”

 

Were this real life, Yuuri knew that he would be having a panic attack.  Instead he just felt like he was falling through a never-ending black hole.

 

“I’m in another world, Viktor.”

 

Blue eyes darted to his, widening into saucers.  “What?”

 

“I… woke up in another version of me.  You’re my doctor, and you had no idea who I was…”

 

Viktor sat up, grasping Yuuri’s hand desperately.  “You’re… alive?”

 

Yuuri nodded, fighting to remember what Dr. Nikiforov had said at dinner.  “We had a theory, about consciousness.  That this… spoon universe version of me had a serious injury and my consciousness left my body, and in the force of something also happening to me, I was pushed into him.  It was a little confusing, but it basically meant that I took over my life in another reality.  Which means… that I’m stuck there.  I… don’t have a body to return to in our world.”

 

Silence descended on them.  Viktor’s eyes were shining as he pressed another kiss to Yuuri’s forehead.  

 

“It’s okay, you know.  You can move on.  I’ll still be here, as long as they let me.  I’ll stay here for you, Yuuri Katsuki.  Then, when they pull the plug, I’ll let you go.”

 

Choking up, Yuuri grasped at Viktor, heaving body-racking sobs.  “It’s not fair.  We were happy.  We were together.  Our love story was beautiful.”

 

Viktor nodded, his own tears falling onto Yuuri’s shoulder.  “It’s okay, love.  Our love story isn’t over, just yet.”

 

Yuuri woke with a start, tumbling back down into the bed with Viktor, who was still on top of him, and couldn’t breathe.

 

“Yuuri?  Yuuri, are you alright…”

 

Dr. Nikiforov’s long hair was in tangles from sleep and sex, and he scrambled to pull Yuuri against him tightly as Yuuri scream-sobbed into the pillow.

 

“He’s all alone there…”

 

“Shh, shh, Yuuri, I’m right here.  I’m not going anywhere.”

  
  


***

  
  


Yuuri continued moving forward, step by step.

 

It was fucking impossible.  When Yuuri moved in with Dr. Nikiforov after only three days, it took everything in him to go start applying to local jobs.  He got one as a counselor at a rehab facility, and spent his days helping those who had struggled with addiction.

 

It had been three months.

 

At night, he struggled with his own addiction.

 

Viktor.  His Viktor, comatose Viktor, waiting dutifully for him when he fell asleep, telling him stories that Yurio or Chris had whispered to him while he was lying there unconscious, about how beautiful Yuuri’s funeral service was, how Yuuri’s family used the money they got from the insurance to turn Ice Castle into a training school for young skaters all around the world.  How Phichit and Yurio were going to move there, soon, to train with Celestino and teach classes.

 

“It sounds so wonderful, Yuuri,” Viktor gushed over the dinner they’d prepared, a dream dinner with no real taste.  Still, they ate it like they pretended everything in this world was real.  

 

Like they pretended that if they opened their doors or looked out their windows, it wouldn’t just be a blank expanse as far as the eye could see.

 

“They even have a memorial for you, outside.  It has a statue of you in the final pose of your Yuri on Ice free skate.  I hope that when they make one for me, I could be watching you reach out to me, again…”

 

The two of them lapsed into heavy silence.

 

“Have they told you?  When they’re pulling the plug?”

 

Viktor wouldn’t look at him.  “Tomorrow, baby.  This is our last night.”

 

Yuuri just nodded, and when they finished dinner Yuuri brought Viktor into their bedroom.  They made love slowly, tangled together so closely that it was hard to tell where one began and one ended.

 

Viktor was spooning Yuuri as he thrust into him, and Yuuri could feel the sensation of warm tears trickling down his shoulder, as Viktor mourned the last time they would be joined together, the purest physical representation of their love and intimacy.

 

When Viktor finished, he stayed inside Yuuri as long as he could, until Yuuri pulled away and turned around and clutched Viktor’s face to his chest, whispering sweet words, words that were…

 

“This is the speech I was going to give you on our wedding day.  I thought I could give it to you now.”

 

Viktor was trembling, tightening his grip on Yuuri’s waist.

 

“Our love is something of fairy tales.  It was never a simple or easy thing.  However, we knew that once it began, there would be no other way for us.  It never struck me as a bad thing, either.  I had loved you for most of my life already.  

 

“At first, my biggest concern was that you wouldn’t love me back enough, but you proved me wrong every day.  Your love is you kissing me in the morning, even when I have morning breath.  Your love is you giving me a hard time during practice because you know I can do better.  Your love is patience when my anxiety is at its highest.  Your love is as big as your heart, which cannot be contained in any one body, so it spilled over into mine.  

 

“When people ask what I see for us, in the future, I say that I see what we've always seen in each other.  You are my bright, wide expanse of blue skies, brimming with possibilities.  I am your sunshine, guiding you forward when you lose your way.

 

“I promise, for every day for the rest of my life, I will take care of you as you do me.  I will show my love in every little thing I do.  Every scrap of paper that I write a fast love note on, every kiss that I can steal, they are all yours.  

 

“Our love story is never going to be over, because love is eternal.  Today, I can’t wait to start our eternity, my love, my bright skies, my Vitya.”

 

Viktor was sobbing into his chest, and Yuuri’s voice was cracking at the end as he clutched at his fiance tighter, tighter because their eternity was about to be up.

 

When Yuuri started to feel the tug of his alarm going off, he held tighter to Viktor, trembling.  He begged to whoever was in charge, to whoever thrust him into another reality, to whatever force was trying to tear them apart, “no, I need to stay here with him, don’t make me leave…”

 

His eyes cracked back open in the real world, with Dr. Nikiforov stretching and getting ready for the day, and Yuuri stared blankly ahead.

 

“He’s gone.”

 

Viktor turned around, long hair falling in his eyes, which were brimming with sadness.  This Viktor knew what happened in Yuuri’s dreams.  “I’m so sorry.”

 

It was weird, to have Viktor mourn his own death, but still comforting all the same.

 

Yuuri didn’t go to work, that day.  He sat around the apartment, curled up with Makkachin, tried to force himself to eat, tried to fall back asleep but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get back to that place where Viktor was.

 

A sense of loss unlike any other settled over him, and he had panic attack after panic attack, knowing that he would never really  _ know _ when it happened, that he wouldn’t get a call because in that world, Yuuri wouldn’t be able to pick up.

 

So, when his cell phone rang, he jumped up to it irrationally.

 

“Hello, is this Katsuki Yuuri?”   

 

“Yes,” he said slowly, because surely his heart had stopped.

 

“This is Angel of Mercy Emergency Room.  We’re calling on behalf of your boyfriend, Viktor Nikiforov.  You were listed as his emergency contact.”

 

Surely the world had stopped spinning.

 

“I… what’s going on?”

 

“We need you to come in, sir.  Do so as quickly as possible.”

 

Surely the universe had taken enough away from him, now?

 

He ran to the bathroom and threw up bile, because he hadn’t eaten anything, and pounded his fist bloody against the tile floor, until he lapsed into a quiet, hazy acceptance.

 

He got up, cleaned off and bandaged his hand, and walked out of the apartment.

  
  


***

  
  


When he arrived in the ER, he was floating completely on impulse, but surely enough he found Viktor exactly where Yuuri had been kept, three months earlier.

 

There were alarms blaring all over the place.  Yuuri just couldn’t hear them until that moment, like the volume on the world had been muted until he saw his beautiful Viktor’s face, cut up, the nurses doing chest compressions on him.

 

When one of the nurses grabbed Yuuri’s arm, he recognized Mila.

 

“Yuuri, you shouldn’t be here…”

 

Her eyes were red from crying, and as she tried to tug Yuuri away, he resisted.

 

“No!  No, he’s the love of my life, I can’t…”

 

“He’s gone, Yuuri.  They’ve been giving him CPR for twenty minutes.  They have to call it.”

 

When Yuuri was twelve, his grandmother died.  The death had been a quiet, uncomfortable affair.  The old woman had been dying for months, years, even, and when she stuttered out her last breath, relief had fallen over the room.

 

At least she didn’t have to suffer anymore.

 

However, that was not the case here.  Someone was pulling the person who was doing CPR off of Viktor, after they heard a sickening crunch that was probably one of his ribs dislocating.

 

“He’s gone, Dr. Feltsman…”

 

“No!  He’s gone when I say he’s gone!”  The old man grunted, but soon he was just crying out, “Why him?  Why this man?  Why one of us?  It isn’t fair!”

 

Everyone was silently standing around Viktor, their colleague.

 

Yuuri found himself focusing on Viktor’s bare chest, perturbed.  His boyfriend… fiance… boyfriend... who only had on a torn pair of scrub pants.  Yuuri felt the need to cover him up, so he wandered over and crawled onto the bed with him, pulling up the sheet to cover both of them.

 

His eyes were dry.  He didn’t think he had any more tears.

 

“What happened?”

 

Mila spoke up.

 

“They found him like this in an alley.  He must have been jumped.  They threw him against the wall.  They’ll be able to figure it out more conclusively upon autopsy, but we think what got him was the bleeding in the brain.”

 

Huh.  What a delicate thing, life.  That the love of his life could be stolen from him twice in one day.

 

That there were so many billions of ways to die, and how expected Viktor had managed to find two ways to leave Yuuri in such a short amount of time.

 

Yuuri pressed a kiss to Viktor’s forehead, which was still warm, and whispered, “Wait for me, my love.  I’ll be there before you know it.”

 

It was then that the alarm started blaring that his heart had started up again.

 

In a flurry of movement Yuuri was thrown unceremoniously back as Yakov rushed in to start CPR again, and Yuuri couldn’t even find it in his heart to care that he had a bruise blooming on his ass.

 

A few heart-stopping, world ending minutes later, Viktor gasped awake, looking around desperately.

 

“Where… where am I?”

 

Yakov stumbled back, dumbfounded.  “You were dead, son.”

 

Viktor blinked, his left eye bloodshot still.  “I… I was, but…” his eyes rolled back in his head and he fell back on the bed, and the doctors scrambled, but determined that he had just drifted into unconsciousness.

 

When they let him, Yuuri sat at his bedside, fingers clutching Viktor’s so tightly that he was sure to be cutting off blood flow.

 

“Come back to me, baby.  I can’t lose you, too.”

 

At Yuuri’s voice, Viktor stirred, his eyes glazed over for a minute.

 

“Viktor?  Are you awake?”

 

Nodding slowly, Viktor felt for the bandage that was covering where his forehead had been bleeding, fingers stalling in his hair.

 

“Why… my hair is so long…”

 

Viktor was confused; of course he was, he almost died.  “Yeah, well, you don’t like to cut it.  You want to feel like a dancer.”

 

VIktor blinked, coughing and wincing at how the movement hurt his ribs.  “I… Yuuri, how are you here?  You… you died on impact.”

 

_ It’s a dream.  It has to be _ .

 

“They… I thought they pulled the plug.  I thought I was dead… I’m… where’s Yurio?  Why was Yakov in scrubs?”

 

Yuuri couldn’t see past the tears streaming down his face, fresh and new.

 

“It’s me, Viktor.  Your Yuuri.  I think… I think we’ve been given a second chance.

  
  


***

 

_ Five years later _

_ Hasetsu, Japan _

_ Fork World _

 

The Katsuki-Nikiforov skating school was the most presdigous in the world.

 

Between the coaching of Celestino, Yurio, and Phichit, and the hard work of the managers of the facility (the Nishigori family), dozens of young skaters made Hasetsu, Japan their home base.  The economy was flourishing in their little fishing town like never before.

 

Yurio spent every Sunday with the Katsuki family in their onsen.  That particular Sunday, Phichit, him, and the family were sitting around the table, eating Katsudon as was tradition, and talked about the school.

 

“The Viktor statue is almost complete, right?” Toshiya asked, sipping at his broth.

 

Phichit nodded.  “It took them a while to make it match Yuuri’s and get the costume just right.  Viktor in his final pose of Stay Close to Me just felt right.”

 

They continued eating, savoring the food and company.

 

“You think they’re together?”

 

Yurio had spoken for the first time all evening, and Hiroko’s eyes misted up with emotion.  

 

“I know they are, Yuchan.  They’re together and they’re happy.  A love like theirs never dies.”

 

Mari raised her drink.  “To a love that never dies.”

 

They all toasted their lost loved ones and continued the meal with small talk and quite a few bottles of sake.

 

Yurio was too trashed by the end of it to go home, so he did something he hadn’t done in years, and wandered to Yuuri’s room.

 

It was exactly the same as he’d left it.  A living tomb.  His one sock was still on the floor, his desk had the same books piled haphazardly on top of each other.  As Yurio had grown over the years, it became a lot harder to huddle on to Yuuri’s bed, but he did so now, curling up into the sheets, emotion welling up in him.

 

“You’d be fucking proud, Katsudon.  All the skate school students are amazing.  I hope… I hope Phichit and I are doing what you would have wanted…”

 

He fell asleep like that, still dressed, breathing evening out from choking sobs to easy snores.

 

He had a really, really good dream.

 

Maybe it was the company, or the room, or the conversation earlier, but Yuri found himself in a spacious living room.  A voice echoed from another room.

 

“Viktor, Ava needs attention and I need to go!”

 

“Katsudon?”  Yurio whispered, trying to talk and move but, as these things often went in dreams, he couldn’t move or speak.  He was trapped where he was, gazing as Viktor tumbled out of a bedroom, putting on his other sock.

 

The older skater’s hair was long again, like it had been when he was a teen.  He brushed it back into a ponytail as Yuuri wandered into the room.

 

Yuuri was a little older.  Yurio could see it in the crinkle of his smile as he cooed over the baby he was holding.

 

A little angel, Yurio thought.  He wanted to reach out and hold her, but she clung to Yuuri like her life depended on it.

 

“She’s such a daddy’s girl,” Viktor teased, and Yuuri chuckled, handing the two-year-old off.

 

“That joke gets old after the thirtieth time, love.”

 

“You’re right, I’m sorry,” Viktor’s voice shot up into the high-pitched garble of a parent talking to their baby, “It’s just that Ava loves us so much and we just can’t seem to let her go.”

 

“I’m heading off to work, though,” Yuuri pressed a kiss to Viktor’s head and Ava’s, pulling on his jacket.

 

“Say bye-bye to daddy, Ava,” Viktor said softly, running his hand up and down the little girl’s back.

 

Her tiny fist came up, opening and closing twice, gurgling her good-bye.

 

Yuuri froze, hand coming to his heart.  “Oh no, Viktor, I can’t leave now…”

 

“Go, darling.  She’ll be here when you get home.”

 

Yuuri left the house to Yurio’s right.

 

Yurio swore that Ava had caught his eye and was watching Yurio stand there, apparently invisible, with interest.

 

As it often went in dreams, though, things continued on around him.

 

“Come now, my darling, daddy is going to keep writing, okay?”

 

Viktor settled into the couch and put on the tv with some sort of annoying baby show, and settled Ava into a bouncy chair, where she started bouncing, and…

 

No, now Yurio was  _ sure  _ that Ava could see him.

 

Viktor pulled his laptop onto his lap, saying in his baby-talk voice, “Daddy has to get all this down while he still remembers.  The longer your daddies are here, the harder it is to piece together…”

 

Yurio found that he could mo ve, finally, but it was like moving through a wind tunnel, trying to get behind Viktor’s laptop and reading, eyes blowing open wide.

 

... _ the day that I came to this world and took the place of my doppelganger here, my beloved Yuuri was already waiting for me.  We got married two days later.  I quit my doppelganger’s job as a doctor, as I had no idea how to be one, and became a piano and ballet instructor while Yuuri continued to work with his patients. _

 

_ We adopted Ava just after she was born.  Sometimes I tell her the stories, of how her fathers were famous figure skaters, and I hope she remembers, as my memory fades, of a world where Yuuri and I loved each other so much that we found each other again, in another… _

 

Yurio woke with a start, curling in Yuuri’s bedsheets, frozen in place.

 

“Holy…” Yurio scrambled out of the bed, rushing down the stairs, screaming the names of the family, happy tears falling down his face.

 

Dreams are nice, but sometimes, reality is an even sweeter escape.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it, folks.
> 
> The follow up series will follow Yuuri Katsuki the therapist and why he went missing for three months before this series began, as well as what happened after all this went down. I'm very excited to explore this idea more fully
> 
> If you like this fic, check out my other YOI fics, "The Picture of Yuri Plisetsky" and "The Silver Devils Play"

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be three parts. I wrote the whole thing but still need to edit the rest. Stay tuned my loves
> 
> If you like this, check out my other YOI fics, "The Picture of Yuri Plisetsky" and "The Silver Devils Play"


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